The field of the invention is fishing, trapping and vermin destroying using an elevatable cage and the invention is particularly concerned with a trap for marine animals.
The state of the art of such elevatable marine animal traps may be ascertained by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,489,856 and 4,134,226, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein.
It is known to trap fish using a baited cage with funnel shaped entry ways where a fish enters the larger diameter of the funnel entrance and then passes through the smaller entrance into the cage and is then trapped inside.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,226 shows the latest development in crab traps where a square, metal, wire cage is dropped into the water to rest on the bottom with one or more sides open. Crabs crawl into the baited trap and the trap is sprung as it is pulled to the surface.
According to the prior art crab traps such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,489,856 and 4,134,226 it is not known to use these traps for both crabs and fish.